The place for great and not-so-great nearly forgotten videos from the decade of Miami Vice, mullets, and acid wash jeans. All praise to the bands, YouTube, and the original posters of these videos.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

The Bangles - Going Down to Liverpool

"Going Down to Liverpool" is a rare video and a cover, so it fits onto ERV in two ways. Loyal reader Krista suggested this one a while back, and it seemed like a great fit for the blog.

The Bangles were an all-female pop band from California, and the first version of the band formed in 1980. Several name changes took the band from the Colours to the Supersonic Bangs to just the Bangs. A legal issue forced the final name change, to the Bangles, when their independent label EP was released in 1983.

"Going Down to Liverpool" was off the band's debut LP, 1984's All Over the Place. While the song did receive some radio play, it did not chart -- in fact, the band's first charting single was 1986's "Manic Monday," which hit #2. Interestingly, the original version of "Going Down to Liverpool" was written by Kimberley Rew and recorded by his band, Katrina and the Waves (of "Walking on Sunshine" fame). The song appeared several times on early recordings of theirs and caught the attention of Vicki Peterson and Michael Steele of the Bangles, who decided to put it on their record.

The video features Leonard Nimoy, whose son was a friend of Susanna Hoffs (hence his connection to the band). Hoffs also enlisted her mom, indie film director Tamar Simon Hoffs to direct the video. While the video did not launch the band to stardom (that would come later), it was a solid effort. Of course, the band would have some major success in the mid to late 1980's before breaking up.

I have to say, I am a pretty big fan of the original as well:

Cool trivia fact: Drummer Debbi Peterson sings lead on the Bangles' version, one of only two times that she sang lead for the band (the other time was on "Be With You.")